01. The Loser

"Fraser, h-help me."

A hand reached out while another hand tried to grip tightly at cliff’s edge, keeping himself from falling into the deep abyss below. The young man's eyes were filled with mix of hope and fear as he pleaded for help from his friend who sat on the cliff's edge after accidentally pushing him.

"Fraser, I can't hold on much longer. Quickly, help me up! Class is about to start in a moment!" The black-haired man repeated, this time with a somewhat loud voice. It was because his legs were starting to ache as he struggled to climb and step on the fragile rocks, he almost falling several times. He did not know how long he could endure this position.

However, Fraser, his one and only friend, did not respond to the young man's words and only stared at him in horror gaze.

"S-sorry, Ave."

"Fraser?"

Clap. Clap. Clap.

From behind Fraser, applause sound echoed, followed by the footsteps of many people approaching the edge of the cliff right behind their school, Neogen High School.

"Fraser, my friend! You did a great job!"

A familiar voice rang out, causing Ave to furrow his brow and bite his lower lip in frustration and anger.

'Of course, it’s him.'

"Claude," Fraser said with a hopeful smile.

The traitor immediately stood up and approached Claude with his gang, who were standing arrogantly there and staring at Ave still hanging on the edge of the cliff with a disdainful face. Although Ave struggled to see the faces of the bullies, he already knew it was them. They were the group that bullied Ave every day.

"Did you do as I instructed?" Claude asked, patting Fraser's cheek, making him nod enthusiastically.

"O-of course, Claude! I lied to him, saying that Lady Rosalind wanted to meet him at the cliff behind the school, then I pushed him into the cliff as you ordered." Fraser revealed his entire evil plan right in front of Avery, making him grimace at his friend’s betrayal.

"Hmmm, well done."

"N-now you and your group won't bully me again, just as you promised, right, Claude?"

"Hmmm, I'll think about it again later." Claude gave a sweet smile while patting Fraser's head quite forcefully, surprising the young man and leaving him speechless.

"B-but you promised that—"

"Promised what, huh?" The young man with blond hair and blue eyes cut off Fraser's words and stared at him sharply, followed by Claude's friends who give a threatening pose for Fraser not to cross the line, making Fraser instantly shrink like a dead mouse.

Claude rolled his eyes irritably at Fraser's nagging and walked towards the edge of the cliff. There, he locked eyes with Ave, who returned his gaze with a mix of anger and annoyance. He'd been harassed ever since he joined Neogen, but this had gone too far.

Ave's sharp stare offended Claude.

"Tch—stupid rat. I warned you not to cross the line if you didn't want to end up like this useless worm."

STOMP!

"AHKKKKK!"

Intentionally, Claude stepped on Ave's hand, making the unfortunate lad scream in pain and almost lose balance.

Not stopping there, Claude shifted his weight, intensifying the pain in Ave's hand.

"Now you get it? I don't like that look of yours, disgusting worm. You're never on my level, so don't try to gaze at me with those lowly eyes, or I'll pluck them out," Claude threatened with a wicked grin, squatting and staring at Ave who winced in pain.

"Why..." Ave whispered, struggling to continue due to the pain spreading through his body. Ave glared at Claude with a mixture of anger and suffering. "Why are you doing all this to me, bastard? What did I do to you? I never bothered you or wronged you, but... why do you torment me and make my life miserable like this? What did I do, damn it?!"

Claude raised an eyebrow, putting on an expression as if deep in thought.

"Why? Hmmm, I don't know. I also don't know why I'm tormenting you."

"Huh?" Ave couldn't comprehend.

What kind of answer was that? If he himself didn't know why he was bullying Ave, then why had Ave's life been a living hell every time he was at school?

"Oh! I know." A wide grin appeared again on Claude's typical Western face. He then explained his reason with enthusiasm. "It's because every time I see your face, I'm reminded of my servant's old dog. Ah... it was so filthy and disgusting, drooling and sleeping every day. I didn't like that dog, so I threw it off the fifth floor of my house. You look so much like that ugly dog, so I want to throw you off this cliff too."

"W...what?" Ave's pupils widened, could not believe that Claude had been tormenting him since he entered Neogen High School until now just because he resembled his servant's old dog.

A simmering anger took hold of Ave's chest. The young man could not contain his emotions any longer when he realized he was being bullied for such ridiculous reasons. Ave harbored an intense desire to retaliate against Claude and his cohorts, yet lacked the strength to do so.

He found himself burdened with a condition known as talentless—a rare state where genetic mutation failed to manifest, made him incapable of accessing any special abilities. In an era where the ratio of non-mutated humans to mutants was 1:100,000, Ave felt akin t a useless worm with no advantages except for his brain.

"Ugh, I'm getting bored of you,” Claude sighed, treating Ave as if he were a worn-out plaything nearing its end.

"Wait a moment, I can entertain you—”

"Farewell, stupid worm." Claude's smirk widened as he callously pushed Ave's shoulders, sending him plummeting into the abyss below.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"

"A-Ave!" Fraser's eyes widened in shock, could not believe if Claude had actually pushed someone into the abyss. He thought it was just a joke, but watching Ave's descent into a pit over 50 meters deep left Fraser's legs feeble, collapsing onto the ground with a blank stare.

"No… this can't be happening." As Fraser sank into the abyss of guilt and despair for becoming an murderer, Claude, the main culprit, casually whistled his way out of the scene.

"Let's go. Class is about to start. Miss Lenora is teaching now. She’s hot as shit, you know." Claude let out a lascivious grin, earning laughter from his friends. They left without a trace of guilt after taking the life of one of their classmates.

After Claude and his gang left, Fraser crawled quickly to the edge of the cliff and looked down, but all he saw was darkness waiting below. His brother had once said that if you fell into the abyss, you would not survive because there were many monsters and other dangerous things down there.

"No... Ave! Avery! Can you hear me? Ave!" Fraser shouted in desperation, but there was no response except for his echoing voice.

"No... I'm sorry, Ave... forgive me... forgive me..." Fraser's cries broke, and the ginger-haired youth with freckles on his face sobbed at the edge of the cliff, blaming himself for betraying his only friend in school, Avery.

Fraser had betrayed his friend just for Claude's false promise that he would stop bothering him and his sister who only got enrolled at Neogen High School.

In the abyss, Ave fell and died.

He must be dead.

However, the figure who Fraser was looking now lying limp while fresh blood started flowing from his head. Almost his entire body twisted and broken, however he still breathed slowly while staring at a faint light above, which now appearing blurry as blood flooded his corneas.

‘Yeah, maybe this is the best path for someone talentless like me. Dying alone in a dark and lonely place like this.’

Ave monologued in his heart, his jaw broken and bent sideways from hitting the rocks of the cliff.

Ah, his whole body felt so painful.

He just wanted to die quickly and end all this pain

[Ding!]

[All conditions for activating the 'Underdog System' have been met. Avery Blythe has been chosen as the host system.]

[Underdog System will be activated.]

[… 99%]

[Underdog System activated. Complete all quests and climb the social ladder. Don't let the bullies win. Show that an underdog can beat them all!]

"... huh?"